Calgary coach Steve McCarthy has accepted a three-month contract to coach the Thailand National Mountain Bike Team. If all goes well, the position may be extended to one year. Steve leaves for Bangkok next week. Congratulations and good luck Steve!

Continuing with overseas news, Dana Ruddy has impressed the coaches of his Belgium team MEZ so far this season, and will ride the Circuit des Plages Vendeennes International Stage Race in France, starting later this week.

Jacob Erker (Eurotech), riding for the Sparklett's Water Team, performed well in an early race in California last weekend, finishing 16th in a race dominated by the Mercury team.

For information on the above courses and camps, please contact the ABA office.

Athlete Development Opportunity from the CCA

The Canadian Cycling Association's National Team Program is offering a development opportunity for a female road cyclist in Europe this spring.

The National Team Program for the Women's Development Team will start March 15 and continue to the end of April. The program will be a mix of training camps, one and two-day national level races and will include participation in the Flèche Wallonne World Cup in Belgium.

The candidate must cover her travel to Toulouse and back to Canada, as well as meals (cooking facilities will be available for most of the trip). Ground transportation, entries and accommodation will be paid by the CCA.

Please send your application and resume to the CCA, attention Pierre Hutsebaut, before February 28th, 2000, to the address below.

The Canadian Cycling Association's National Team Program is offering a professional development opportunity for a Mountain Bike Coach in Europe.

Head Coach Yury Kashirin is looking for an assistant for the three European World Cup events this spring. The project will be from April 26 to May 16, 2000.

The candidate should be willing to cover his or her travel to Paris and must be capable of driving a van (standard shift, diesel) from event to event. Knowledge of racing rules is also mandatory.

Expenses in Europe (such as transportation, accommodation and meal allowance) will be covered by the CCA. Please send your application and resume to the CCA, attention Pierre Hutsebaut, before March 3rd, 2000.

Gilles Morneau, contacted us after we posted the news about Canadian mountain bikers Eric Tourville and George Visser terrorizing the Aussie locals (February 15th Daily News), to point us to an interesting item on his own website. Go Here to get the 'bare' essentials on Tourville and Visser...